The XML and Web Services Revolution
The diagram below, illustrates the key message that XML Web services will usher in the programmable Internet, the next wave of change.
The widespread deployment of XML is the beginning of a revolution; a revolution in publishing, a revolution in business processes and a revolution in the Internet.
A Revolution in Publishing
Publishing took off about 600 years ago when Gutenberg invented hot metal letter printing. Gutenberg had the phenomenal idea of moveable metal letters or moveable type that enabled the "type setter" to configure a page of information in record time without having to throw away the printing plate afterwards. This innovation enabled a number of cultural revolutions in Europe.
Some experts believe that without Gutenberg's invention, and the consequent massive growth of literacy in Europe, there would not have been a Renaissance, or a French Revolution for that matter.
The printing industry has used PostScript as a page description language for nearly a decade. During this time, it has become a de facto industry standard for the whole production chain within the printing business. Prior to PostScript there were proprietary systems and, before this, hot metal letters. Currently, the printing industry is going through a transition. The Portable Document Format (PDF) has been used during the last decade to format documents for the computer screen (and display them with Adobe Acrobat Reader) and to print out downloaded documents. Now PDF is about to replace PostScript in the printing industry and is becoming a standard format for print layout, whether for computer screen, desktop printer, or offset and rotary printing.
XML allows a publisher to change the presentation of information with a keystroke. Using special stylesheets, the information can be presented in Web Format (HTML), vector graphics, multimedia or speech. These stylesheets can be applied to a whole catalogue or to a single page.
A Revolution in Business
Organisations too are living in revolutionary times. They will not go untouched. Three examples show this very clearly:
- Electronic Business XML
- XML for corporate reporting
- XML used for wireless networks
Trading groups will flourish based upon new XML standards adopted by industry. These standards, also called ‘vocabularies’, are already being formed. For example ebXML is a developing standard for business.
"The goal is to provide an open technical framework to enable XML to be utilized in a consistent and uniform manner for the exchange of Electronic Business (EB) data in application-to- application, application-to-human and human-to- application environments thus creating a single global market"
- electronic business XML (ebXML) Requirements Specification
XML is being used for corporate reporting also. A ‘vocabulary’ called XBRL is in trial use for this at the NASDAQ. If you have Excel 2000 or Excel XP you can view it at www.nasdaq.com/xbrl/ Please note that you will need to have Internet access to view this and that the number of companies that it reports on is limited.
XML is being used for system integration using wireless networks. The business scenario that we will use will be that of a field sales force automation front end. Our system will allow for order entry to occur on a remote mobile device, which in turn triggers a business process on a remote enterprise server. The sales rep is able to do real-time inventory checks messages sent to the enterprise. The customer will be able to check order status using an IVR system driven by VoiceXML.
A Revolution in the Internet
A shift of seismic proportions is just now beginning in Internet programming. Internet access will soon be built into nearly every program anyone ever writes. Your IT systems will be able to talk to other IT systems. You may only need to browse as we know it know, as a leisure activity.
Web Services and XML
UNLIKE earlier distributed computing technologies, Web services and
XML give the software industry a chance to finally realize the dream
of standardization.
The proliferation of XML-based Web services standards and development
-- particularly around application integration -- will enable software
interaction on a wide scale.
Web services interfaces and standards will enable the interaction of
common application functions such as billing systems or credit check
approval processes, freeing companies to focus on the value-added elements
of their core applications.
Web services will prevail as the dominant system-to-system integration mechanism because it is based on the Internet, Internet standards and affords a higher level of abstraction to developers through XML.
XML and the commodity software around Web services gives organisations the potential to define the missing standards for integration, get faster time to market and better ROI.
To get there the standards for quality of service features such as security, workflow, and transactions will need to be improved -- no easy task given increasing fragmentation among vendors and standards bodies. Agreement on this second layer of standards, above the core XML, SOAP, UDDI, and WSDL, will be slower to come.
The establishment of a standard Web services reference architecture will be essential to its adoption. The W3C is currently working on this architecture. Please also see our whitepaper.